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Friday, November 20, 2009

Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello said that center Dainius Zubrus will have surgery later today to "secure" a hairline fracture of the patella (kneecap) on is right leg and will miss four to six weeks.

Lamoriello said the surgery will allow Zubrus to resume walking "shortly", but also immobilize the kneecap without a cast so that it can heal properly.

Zubrus was injured when he blocked a shot from Nashville defenseman Kevin Klein 1:04 into the second period of Thursday night's game. The force of the shot was so great that it broke Zubrus' shin guard.

"I've never seen a shin guard break," Lamoriello said. "It didn't crack. It was just that the cap (on the shin guard) pushed in and the pressure of going in hit a vulnerable spot (on his kneecap)."

After the game, Zubrus wore an immobilizing brace on his right leg under his suit pants.

Zubrus and right wing Ilkka Pikkarainen were both placed on injured reserve today. Lamoriello said Pikkarainen was sent back to New Jersey because he was suffering from the flu -- not he H1N1 variety.

"He has a virus like (head coach) Jacques (Lemaire) had," Lamoriello said. "He wasn't feeling well, so we thought that rather than have him come to Dallas, we would send him home with Zubrus, so he could rest."

Left wing Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond was activated off IR after being placed on it just Thursday because of an upper-body injury.

Lamoriello said that no players will be called up for Saturday's game in Dallas.

Devils coach Jacques Lemaire he as "never, ever, ever, ever" seen a team be so hard hit with injuries to key players. And they're not injuries that are occurring because the game has become too fast or too violent -- as some have suggested as the reason for the widespread rash of injuries throughout the league. They're occurring in regular situations that take place in every game.

"Anybody will get a slash (Martin)," Lemaire said. "Anybody will block a shot (Zubrus). Anybody will go in a corner."

When I asked if any of the injured players -- particularly Niedermayer and Pandolfo -- might be ready to play in Wednesday's home game against Ottawa, Lamoriello said, "They're getting closer, but I don't want to say yay or nay. I'll know more when we get back (to New Jersey).

Lemaire tried to look for a positive Friday.

"The good news is nobody got injured at breakfast," he joked. "So, it was good today."

The Devils have no choice but to play on without their injured players. So far, they've been able to survive pretty well.

"We're competitive," Lemaire said. "I think the guys realize we're missing five important guys, but they still compete, they still try to play their best."

"It doesn't make it easier, that's for sure," Devils captain Jamie Langenbrunner said of the team's injuries. "Zubie's been playing well and playing a lot of minutes, playing a lot of roles (even strength, power play and penalty kill). So, that's a guy that you lose from that group that you trust. Just when you add someone like Dean (McAmmond) , you go and lose somebody. It's tough."

Langenbrunner, Patrik Elias, Zach Parise, Brian Rolston and Broduer were among the players who were at the rink today to have treatment.

***Langenbrunner won a Stanley Cup with the Stars in 1999, so it still means something for him when he plays in Dallas.

"I still have friends here and whatnot," he said. "It's been a while now (he was traded to the Devils in 2002), but I think you always have the fact of winning here probably adds to it a little bit,"

One of the friends in Dallas is former Devil and current Stars GM Joe Nieuwendyk. Langenbrunner said Nieuwendyk is in Ithaca today to watch a college game (presumably at Cornell, where he played in colelge), but should be back for the game in Dallas on Saturday. That Nieuwendyk is the GM now in Dallas changes things a little.

"It's a bit different," Langenbrunner said. "But it's always nice to have friends in high places."

About

TOM GULITTI has covered the New Jersey Devils for The Record since 2002. Prior to that, he covered the New York Rangers for four years. Gulitti joined The Record in 1998 after six years at The North Jersey Herald News. He graduated from Binghamton University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric-Literature.